


Luffy Becomes a Hollow and Goofs Off

by FriendlyFrat_Boy



Category: Bleach, One Piece
Genre: Alone Luffy, Dimension Travel, Gen, General Luffy shenanigans, Hollow Luffy, Ichigo wants to murder a dead soul, Luffy Being Luffy, Luffy annoys Ichigo to no end, Op Luffy bursts in on pre-soul society arc and fucks shit up, Ressurrección, Sort of? - Freeform, Vasto Lorde Luffy, a little angst (just a little), hollow powers, no idea what's going on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25962085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyFrat_Boy/pseuds/FriendlyFrat_Boy
Summary: Luffy died in search of the One Piece, losing all his Nakama and all his family in the process, thus becoming a hollow. After spending months in Hueco Mundo, bored out of his mind after lacking any adventure of any sort, he gets tossed down to the world of the living, where he meets Ichigo, and his first thought is obviously to annoy the shit out of him.For adventure!Sadly, not only does Luffy not know anything about being a hollow, but he also doesn't even know what this world is. He'll need a lot of time to learn.//cross-posted to fanfiction.net under the same title
Comments: 8
Kudos: 89





	1. Luffy eats a lot of dead souls, takes a nap, and wakes up someplace else

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! Nice havin' ya! Fair warning, this here first chapter was written long before the other chapters, and so, it might sound a bit clunky or odd compared with what's to come. 
> 
> Furthermore, I... I'm not actually a part of the Bleach fandom. I just loved this idea too much to pass up. So, if any facts seem off or the canon goes to shit, that's on me. I'm doing my best to keep the characters in character and all, but it's hard when I haven't read all 600+ chapters. 
> 
> With that said, enjoy!

When Luffy woke up, he knew only three things: one, he was in the wrong place, two, he had to find his "Nakama", and three, he was really hungry. He could also recognize such facts as his lying down, the ground feeling more like sand than the familiar grass or wood(whatever those were), etc. Slowly, hesitantly, almost, Luffy sat up. He felt… confused. His first action was to bring up a hand to touch his face, as he felt something was wrong there. And, to be sure, where he would expect soft, elastic(elastic?) flesh to be placed, he instead found a hard, bony mask covering the entirety of his face, the only openings being two large holes for his eyes and two smaller ones for his nostrils. Beneath the aforementioned nostrils, there was a piece of the bony thing covering his mouth and even protruding down his chin. Somehow, Luffy knew exactly what this was: a skull. Or, more accurately, a caricature of a skull.

Luffy's hand trailed upwards, wandering his body, exploring new undiscovered regions, all familiar yet somehow… different. Wrong. Touching the top of his head, Luffy could feel lush, short hair. It wasn't there. Luffy couldn't remember what "it" was, but something about not having "it" sent him reeling, and his hands quickly traversed the entirety of his person, largely ignoring any and all new discoveries, such as his body being entirely white and somewhat hard-ish, his fingers being pointed like claws, the odd X-shaped hole in his chest, the strange tail, his lack of "clothes", ignoring all this in favour of finding the thing that was supposed to be on his head. Luffy snapped around to look behind him, his body trembling anxiously. His treasure. It was gone.

But before he had been able to dig through any more than four feet of strangely snow-white sand, his nose caught wind of something. Something was nearby. Something small, something alive, something… edible. Luffy's mind went blank, his missing treasure forgotten, and he fled the hole he had dug, sprinted on all fours towards the sign of life like an animal, and tackled into it without a second of thought. It was a large, black, leathery creature, looking like a strangely two-tailed zero-headed lizard, with no discernable front or back. Luffy could faintly hear a voice crying out at his sudden presence, but it was dull and distant, in a different room entirely, so to speak. It seemed to come from the general direction of the strange lizard-like creature, but Luffy couldn't really tell from the murderous haze that was covering his mind like a red mist.

The lizard could not move, despite Luffy being significantly smaller. Luffy was only as large as a normal-sized human, if not smaller, standing at around 175 centimetres, and yet he had incapacitated this ten-meter long lizard by simply being in its presence. Luffy may not have known what this was or what this meant, but the lizard sure did. For the slightest of moments, the lizard hollow was acutely aware that he had been attacked by something far beyond his own power, and that his time of being was drawing to its close. This moment soon passed, however, and the very being of the lizard hollow, its very will, was crushed under the sheer unconscious power of the little youth currently simply clinging onto his back. The lizard fell down, limp and dead yet still alive, not able to physically react to the sheer power of the man atop him.

Luffy, all of a sudden, recognized what was happening. From behind the fog that was his bloodlust, he sensed that his will was seeping out, crushing this creature to death. It was as if his conqueror's haki was constantly on, and in a more physical sense than ever before. This was no fun. With a strange familiarity, Luffy subconsciously reigned in his will, allowing the lizard to finally move freely. Confused and startled, the lizard stood once more, suddenly believing its former fears to have only been a hallucination. It did not have another thought of this ilk, however, since he was suddenly very much dead, a fist plunged deep into its body.

Luffy gorged himself upon the bloodless carcass of the lizard, his will so powerful that not even the lesser souls could stir him from his hunger-induced feast. He ate everything he could get his hands on, but when he started tearing at the skin, he realized something. He wasn't wearing anything. Hm. That's not how it's supposed to be. Luffy quickly tore himself a couple of things to wear, namely a vest and a pair of shorts. He recognized that he would rather wear an actual shirt and that this "vest" was a bit of an old-style for him, but it was easier for him to make, so he was fine with it.

Now, he wanted to get going. He didn't know where he wanted to go, but… somewhere. He wanted to meet people, find humans and befriend them, explore new places… find… something. He didn't know what it was that he wanted to find so much, but he just had to find it. He had to.

For the next months or so, Luffy wandered the ivory desert, easily defeating and consuming any fellow hollow he came across, yet never truly satiating his hunger. It was all so… boring. Luffy was, frankly speaking, bored out of his mind. Was there nothing to do here? Apparently not.

And then, one day, he came across a very large hollow. It was around fifteen times Luffy's height, and just the sight of it made Luffy drool. Sure, nothing he ate here truly felt real, but it was at least SOMETHING. Luffy pounced on the creature, which, not expecting the spirit-less little flea to suddenly attack him with such force, promptly toppled over, falling under the heel of the unassuming kid-looking hollow that was Luffy. Luffy tore off the mask with a single swoop and started eating before the creature was even properly dead. It wasn't long before it was though.

But in the middle of his extravagant meal, Luffy was hit with something. Something within him changed. He could remember… something. A boat. "Nakama". An endless, blue sea. The "One Piece". A straw hat. A man with red hair. A war. Brothers. Hardly all of it came back to him, but Luffy could feel he was somehow more… whole. Luffy… that was his name, yes… Monkey D. Luffy… the man who was going to become the Pirate King!

What was this mask?... He didn't want it. It didn't feel right. It didn't fit. He shouldn't be wearing a mask. He was proud of who he was, damn it! Luffy's powerful arms shot up to the unfamiliar structure covering his true face, grasping at either side and pulling at it as hard as he could. It felt like that one time he had tried to rip off his arm to free himself so he could save… someone. Self-amputation. The word lingered in his head as he unconsciously kept himself from truly pulling at it. But once he realized this, once he truly understood what he was trying to do here, he could actually go at it with rejuvenated strength. And so, he ripped the accursed piece of bone and soul off, revealing his true self underneath. Large, curious eyes, with its whites blackened and the pupils an eerie yellowish-white colour, a large mouth always ready to break into a grin. A little piece of the mask remained underneath his left eye, but Luffy could tell, somehow, that removing this piece would be going too far.

Luffy could almost immediately tell the difference. He felt more… like himself. "Shishishi", he laughed, mostly for himself. He looked down at the mask, still in his grip. Sure enough, it was a sort of skull-caricature, looking much like the skull on his infamous flag, minus the bones and the straw hat. Luffy sulked at the thought of his straw hat. But just as he started to fall into doom and gloom, he could feel the mask turn to sand, his fingers no longer grasping anything at all. Looking down, he suddenly saw something in the sand. Something yellow and red and familiar. A large grin, too big for any human, spread across Luffy's face as he bent down and picked up the straw hat, immediately and without any hesitation placing it upon his head. Things were looking much better.

And, sure enough, within only a month or so, Luffy encountered something different. Something that wasn't sand and weird creatures (walking meat). It was a castle! Luffy almost wept at the sight of an actual, honest to god adventure. Maybe he could find his Nakama here? He missed them so much. Whoever they were.

The castle was white and had a strangely bulbous shape. Not that Luffy was complaining, of course, it was just a tad strange. But strange was good! Strange was new! Strange was fresh!

It was without even the slightest hint of reservation or hesitation that Luffy burst through a wall, entirely uncaring about the structure, where he was going or even what this sort of full-frontal assault would do in terms of enemy-making. Really, he didn't care. Whatever hit him, he knew he could handle it. Sure, he looked like a snow-white kid with a straw hat clad in weird pelts, but he knew he was stronger than he looked. He always was. In his amazement and wonder at staring at all the things around him, all the new sensations he was experiencing, he actually forgot that he was in a constant state of hunger. So, when he came across an inhabitant of the castle, a rather normal-looking human-like hollow, he didn't really care to stop and grab a bite, but instead simply punched it into oblivion and continued his mad dash through the castle, drinking in any and all sights with an energetic and somewhat desperate fervour.

In another room entirely, a couple of human-looking hollows were discussing the recent appearance of a non-descriptive hollow that had simply burst in through a wall and beaten up one of their superiors without the least amount of thought or intent. In fact, he was so non-descriptive and the amount of soul power he excreted was so little that they only picked him up by the fact that he had beaten up someone. These hollows were currently in a bit of a stupor, going about any and all solutions to this sudden problem they had on their hands. What was there they could do? The man, or rather, kid, was just kind of running about, not heading anywhere specific, passing by many important rooms and treasures without a care in the world. It was as if he hadn't been to a place like this in a year or something, which was actually the case.

After seeing the boy casually defeat three more high-classing superiors and hollows, the group realized that this boy, although not an obvious threat, could definitely pose a possible future threat if he met even more superiors, because, in a word, he might just defeat them. There was only one thing they could do. Defeating him was not an option, so they chose the next best thing. Send him to the world of the living. At Least there he couldn't pose a problem to THEM per se.

Luffy, still running about with no actual goal, only occasionally brought out of his awe-inspired wonder by someone telling him to stop right there (criminal scum), only to themselves be pummeled within seconds, suddenly felt the ground give out beneath him, and he was in a white void. He could feel some sort of pressure, as if he was falling slowly, but other than that… nothing. All of a sudden, all the air was blown out of him, and he collapsed into a heap of boredom. Oh well, might as well sleep. Now, most hollows would not dare so much as take a nap out of fear that some other powerful spirit within them might take control, however, Luffy didn't even consider this, because none of the spirits he had consumed, no matter how powerful they had previously been, could dare stand up to the sheer will of this boy.

After a couple of hours of falling, Luffy, unbeknownst to himself, since he was still sleeping, crashed into the world of the living. Nobody could see him except a few, but not even them noticed him, because as powerful as he was, his mastery of concealment was infallible. And so, with a spiritual crash, Luffy landed right in the middle of a playground, where everything spiritual and magical happens. Still not quite awake, Luffy slept soundly, despite having fallen from several thousands of meters in the air. And, as it so happened, a young man just happened to be walking through this particular playground on this particular evening. Ichigo, Shinigami newbie who still hadn't done much of anything, couldn't help but stop and stare at the odd sight before him. Some kid had passed out, face first, in the middle of the playground, wearing extremely eccentric clothes. His entire body was white, or at least, as far as Ichigo could see. He was also wearing strangely animal-looking clothes, which were mostly just ripped up pieces of black leather with holes in them. And, in stark contrast to the entire black-and-white outfit, the kid wore a yellow and red straw hat on his head, covering most of his head, but not quite hiding his raven-black hair.

Ichigo wasn't someone to just leave a kid out in the open like this. He had morals, after all. "Hey, you alive?" Ichigo asked sarcastically, poking the boy. The boy simply snored even louder in response to this, and so, Ichigo decided that this kid would not wake up anytime soon. Sighing at his code of honour, Ichigo lifted the side of the kid, rolling him over on his back. As he did this, not only did he realize that the kid couldn't have weighed more than 70 kilos, but he was also… a hollow?...

No, that couldn't be right. Ichigo had seen hollows. Big, black creatures with holes in their chest and a mask that covered their faces. This kid had a hole, that was for sure. Well, hole and hole… It was more like a large scar that simply happened to go through the entirety of the boy's chest, showing that the back of the leather "vest" was, well, black. He didn't have a mask, that was for sure. Well, he had this jagged-looking thing underneath his left eye, but that was it. He was just a kid. This couldn't be a hollow, right? Well, the best way to find out would be to either wake the poor sod up, or… check if the hole is real.

Cursing inwardly, Ichigo reached his hand towards the boy's chest, and with a slow motion, stick one of his fingers into the deep groove. Nope, nothing. It wasn't painted on or anything. At this, Ichigo quickly retracted his hand, staring at the boy oddly. He couldn't leave him here, could he?... if the boy really WAS a hollow, he couldn't just leave him to ravage the human world, and if he took him somewhere else, he could at least be there to defeat him once he woke up. He couldn't return home, that was for sure.

Hoisting the snoring boy up onto his back, Ichigo headed home, at a somewhat slower pace than usual, since he was carrying someone - something - on his back. Hmm. He had to get a hold of Rukia, she might know something about this. With one hand holding onto the leg of the boy on his back currently getting a piggyback ride, Ichigo rummaged about his pockets to get a hold of his phone. After a couple of minutes, Ichigo recognized the moment as having happened earlier that day, at which time he had concluded that he had forgotten his cell phone at home. Grumbling curses under his breath, Ichigo continued heading home. He'd just call Rukia once he got there.

After a couple of minutes, Ichigo started noticing familiar landmarks, and sure enough, he was home. Pushing his way in, carefully making sure nobody was up and about at the moment, Ichigo sneaked inside and ran upstairs to his room. He didn't slam the door exactly, but he closed it pretty hard. With a strangely nice-looking twirl, he removed the snoring boy from his back, took him in his arms, and put him down on his bed. Looking about the room, Ichigo quickly found his cell. Flipping it open, he pressed the button for Rukia's cell, and brought it to his ear, knowing the ensuing conversation would probably give him tinnitus or something of that ilk.

"Yeah this is Rukia, what's up," he heard a female voice say from the other side of the line. "Yo, uh, Rukia, I think you might want to come over," Ichigo replied, trying his best to not have to explain the situation. "I'm in the middle of something, what do you want?" she answered, apparently not picking up the sense of hesitation in Ichigo's voice. "Well, uh, I may have found a hollow?" Ichigo answered bluntly. It was probably a hollow, right? I mean, what else could he be? Ichigo didn't know if his family could see him yet, but he didn't really want to find out. "You-, what!? I don't sense any changes in the spirit energy though…" Rukia replied, seemingly fiddling with some other device or other to figure out the truth of Ichigo's reply. "Well, see, that's the thing, he doesn't SEEM like a hollow at all…" Ichigo said off-handedly.

"...What do you mean?" "Well, for one thing, if it wasn't for the weirdly shaped hole in his chest, I wouldn't have thought he was a hollow at all!" "Weirdly shaped how?..." "Well, it's shaped like an "X", and, I'm not sure if I said this, but he just looks like a boy? Like a really normal boy, maybe even younger than me." "A weirdly shaped hole, and… ! does he have a mask?" "Huh? No, that was the other weird thing, he isn't wearing any mask at all! The closest thing is this little piece that's underneath his left eye. It's in a weird shape, too," "! I-, wait, what do you mean you "found" him? Is he just wandering around, or?..." "No, he's asleep," "He's-, what?..." "Asleep." "...Hollows don't sleep." "Then explain why a hollow is sleeping on my bed right now." "He's-, I'll be there in five, don't-, don't wake him up!" -beep-

Don't wake him up, eh. Ichigo looked over to the kid sleeping peacefully atop his bed, not a care in the world. But it was odd. Why hadn't anybody greeted him at the door or anything?... Oh, right, dad was on a business trip, and both of his sisters had some sort of field trip with the school. So, he was all alone. "Welp, better make some food for myself since nobody else wi-," "-Food?..."

Ichigo snapped around to face the voice that had suddenly piqued up. And, to be sure, the hollow-boy was currently sitting up on his bed, rubbing his black eyes, looking pretty tired, but still quite… energetic. "Uh…" Ichigo made a sound at the sight of the hollow being awake, less than a minute after Rukia had told him not to wake him up. "...You said food?" the boy asked, his eyes staring up at Ichigo expectantly. "Uh, well, yes?..." Ichigo answered, not really knowing whether to be confused or scared. The boy grinned broadly at the idea of getting food though, which put Ichigo, at least somewhat, at ease. "Can I have some? I'm really hungry…" the boy said, promptly slumping over on the bed as if to prove his hunger. "I mean, sure? But aren't you, y'know, a hollow?" Ichigo asked, hoping his blunt answer wouldn't be taken in a bad way. The boy simply leaned his head to the right, furrowed his brows, frowned, and asked "what's a hollow?"

Either this boy was wearing a very strange cosplay of some sort, or he was a very, very stupid hollow. Either one was similarly likely, and he considered giving Rukia a "false-alarm" call but decided against it since she would probably know more about this than he did. But then again, she had sounded pretty panicked, even though this boy didn't even seem remotely like a hollow, apart from his appearance.

"Well, I guess you don't need to know, but uh, if you come along downstairs, I can give you some food?" Ichigo asked. At this new prospect of food, the boy laughed a peculiar little laugh ("shishishi") and hopped off the bed with all the agility of a monkey. Ichigo lead the boy out of his room and downstairs to his kitchen. During the whole time, the boy was staring around the place as if he had never seen a house in his life. Everything was amazing, and nothing was uninteresting.

"So, have you got a name?" Ichigo asked, turning on the stove and rummaging through the fridge for anything edible. "Monkey D. Luffy," the boy answered without any hesitation, drooling as he stared over Ichigo's shoulder at all the different kinds of food he had in the fridge. Eggs, milk, greens, paprika, everything looked delicious to Luffy. Ichigo nodded silently. "And you?" Luffy asked, clearly not really interested in anything but the idea of food. Real, actual food. "Ichigo Kurosaki," the red-haired youth replied, fishing out some eggs, butter and bacon. Might as well be simple.

Ichigo, irritated at the hollow-looking boy constantly drooling on his shoulder, directed Luffy to at least sit by the table while he made food. "Maan, I haven't had real food in… a year? Ehh, a long time," the boy mused to himself as he leaned his entire upper body on the table, looking pretty much famished. "What do you mean you haven't had real food in a year?!" Ichigo exclaimed, any and all fear he might have felt for the boy replaced by a proper feeling of irritation. "Well, I had been stuck in this weird white desert for months, and all that I could eat there were these weird black creatures, but they didn't even taste any good, and once I actually found a cool place, everything went white, and… here I am? Is the food done yet?..." the boy whined. Ichigo didn't really understand what white desert the boy, Luffy, was talking about, but those large black creatures he was talking about…

"Did those creatures have white masks?" Ichigo asked, completely ignoring the question about the food he was making. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess they did?" Luffy replied. He could honestly barely remember any of his encounters with the creatures since his mind kind of went blank, but they usually had masks, right? Yeah probably. "Heeey, is the food done yet?..." Luffy whined, his stomach growling loudly. "Yeah yeah, almost done," Ichigo said, transferring the still sizzling bacon and eggs to a pair of proper plates. Setting the two down on the table, he went to grab some cutlery, only to come back to a pair of entirely empty plates. "You…" Ichigo shot an accusing glare at Luffy, who averted his gaze to the side and whistled in one of the worst ways Ichigo had ever seen someone attempt to feign innocence.

"S-, sorry…" Luffy finally mumbled, looking down at the table in quasi-shame. "But you still have some food, right?" Luffy asked, looking up at the slightly confused Ichigo. No? He didn't? Noticing Ichigo's confusion, Luffy stood up, his nose in the air, and started walking around. "Here, here, and…" Luffy said, sniffing the air for something that smelled pretty good, until he finally stepped right up to Ichigo and took a deep breath, "-right here!"

Luffy grinned widely as he pointed out Ichigo as being something that "smelled good". Ichigo could feel a chill run up his spine. He had forgotten the whole "hollow-or-not" that was going on here, but…

"...If you sit back down, I'll make you more food?..." Ichigo asked in an attempt to divert the attention of the kid from himself and to more food. Luffy took the bait and happily sat back down. And just as Ichigo had gotten back to frying eggs and bacon, he heard the door crash open and Rukia burst into the room, panting and wheezing as if she had just run a marathon at top-speed. Her frenzied eyes wandered the room with a fervour Ichigo had seldom seen. The first thing she saw was Ichigo, standing by the stove, but just as she was about to ask him why he wasn't looking over the hollow, she heard someone say "yo" from the other side of the room. And, to be sure, sitting idly by the table like a proper human boy, she saw the hollow. "You woke him up!?" she screamed, which made both Luffy and Ichigo stick their fingers in their ears. "He woke up! How was I supposed to know he would wake up at the mere mention of food!?" Ichigo shouted back, and Luffy realized he didn't like loud noises like this. Leaning back, Luffy looked at the two squabbling people with mild interest, only barely picking up on what they were saying.

"He-, what-," Rukia turned to look at Luffy. Yup, that was a hollow. And not just any kind. "Has-, has he said anything?..." Rukia asked Ichigo, sliding up closer to him so the hollow couldn't hear them. "Uh, he said his name was Luffy, and that he had been walking around some desert, eating hollows for over a year," Ichigo answered, not exactly knowing what he was talking about but hoping it made sense to Rukia. It did. "Holy shit…" Rukia said under her breath. But she understood why Ichigo didn't mind making food for "Luffy", after all, he looked human enough, and he seemed pretty passive, and… there wasn't even a trace of spirit energy floating about him. In fact, the very fact that he wasn't giving off any spiritual energy at all was far more worrying than if he did. Because this meant that, despite looking no older than Ichigo himself, this boy, this creature, had far more technique than he should.

"Hey, I don't think he's that bad, sure, he told me I smelled like food, but… I really don't think he understands the situation he's in, so I think he'll answer any question you ask him, simply because he doesn't know we're the, hrmm, "enemy"," Ichigo whispered, noticing just how strangely terrified Rukia looked. Rukia turned to him and gave a nod. "I'm going in," she whispered back as she went to sit next to the hollow boy, who was, at this time, inspecting the fancy pattern on the back of the plates with big, googly eyes.

"Hi, uh, I'm Rukia. Do you know where you are?" Rukia asked the boy, who gave her a strange look. But as he opened his mouth to answer, he seemingly realized something, as his eyebrows furrowed and he was struck into contemplation. "No, no I don't… where am I?..." Luffy finally answered, looking pleadingly to the woman sitting next to him. She looked pretty normal, but she also kind of reminded him of some other black-haired woman he had seen, and she really did give off the impression of actually knowing something, which Luffy knew he didn't. Maybe she could help him find his nakama?! "-You're in the world of the living," Rukia answered honestly while Ichigo went back to frying eggs. "-What?..." was the only reply Luffy could possibly give. World of the living? Was there any other world?...

"Before this, if Ichigo's explanation was anything to go by, you were in Hueco Mundo, the world of hollows. The creatures you ate were hollows," Ruika explained. Luffy tilted his head in confusion. "What's a hollow?" he asked. "A hollow is a fallen soul which has given into despair, hunting other souls, living or dead, to satiate its never-ending hunger," Rukia explained. "Whoa, scary, hope I never have to meet any of them," Luffy commented, shaking his head, mentally dismissing the idea of ever meeting such a terrifying creature. Rukia could barely believe what this kid was saying. He really didn't know anything, did he? "Hollows all have a couple of traits in common, such as a white mask covering their face, a hole in their chest or elsewhere on their person, and the hunger that defines them," Rukia continued. "Oh, yeah, when I woke up in that - pesto mouth? - I was wearing a mask, weird, huh? I didn't think much of it at first but after a month or so it started feeling wrong so I took it off, shishishi!" Luffy reminisced, laughing at the memory that, to a hollow, was almost the same as self-decapitation. Rukia ignored the comment, but it did confirm something - he was definitely an Arrancar, that was for sure. He just didn't know he was. Did he even know he was dead?...

"So, in short, all those creatures you fought in HUECO MUNDO, were hollows," Rukia continued. "What, really? Pfff, they were weak. Now I'm disappointed," Luffy said, mostly to himself. "And, unless you hadn't realized it before, so are you," Rukia said. She knew she was gambling everything here, but she couldn't allow this kid to just go on believing he was alive when he clearly wasn't. Luffy simply stared at her blankly. "...Huh?" he finally said, his face devoid of emotion. Rukia simply pointed to his large gaping X-shaped hole. "Huh? This? But this-, I got this in the war…" Luffy explained, his right hand prodding slightly at the cavity, jerking back as he found his fingers sinking into it rather than skidding along it. It wasn't right. "...What war?" Rukia asked, now genuinely interested. He couldn't have been much older than a high-school student, and yet, not only had he participated in a goddamned war, but he was also entirely unconscious of his own death.

Luffy gave her a look that seemed to say "were you born stupid or did you have to take lessons?" but, since she had been so kind as to explain so many nice things, Luffy decided to explain things right on back to her. "You know, the Battle of Marineford, when the Whitebeard Pirates and the Navy fought to free or execute A-, the second in command of the Whitebeard pirate fleet?" Luffy explained, shooting a meaningful glance at her to see if it rang any bells. It did not. "Uh, who won?..." Rukia finally asked after way too long. "...The navy…" Luffy answered glumly, looking away sadly. It had been three years since then, but it still hurt. "Isn't that a good thing though? The navy are the good guys, right?" Rukia asked, noticing how down Luffy seemed to be about the whole war. "No! The marines are the enemy! They killed Ace!" Luffy exclaimed, standing up and slamming the table furiously. From this reaction, Rukia could tell this "Ace" guy was more than just a friend. "I'm-, I'm sorry, my condolences, but, if the marines are your enemy, does that mean you're…?" "A pirate," Luffy finished for her, looking oddly serious. But he quickly gave her a big smile to show her that he had pride in this title. He did not, however, mention how he could barely remember who this "Ace" guy was. This was the first name apart from his own that he had remembered. But Ace wasn't someone he could "find". Ace was dead, Luffy knew that.

Rukia couldn't believe this. Not only was this kid a soldier in a pirate-marine war, but he was also a pirate of all things. Wait. Hold up. "How long ago was this war you're talking about?" Rukia asked. "Huh? About uhhh, three years?" Luffy said, wondering himself if he was right about that. Might have been longer. It had been so hard to tell the time back there… Luffy shuddered at the very thought of having to go back to that hellscape. He liked this much better. "Hey, will you two be my friends?" Luffy asked, smiling at the thought of making new friends. He still wanted to find his Nakama, but being alone was worse than being in pain. Rukia gave him a very strange look.

"Um, see, here's the thing, you're a hollow, and, well, we can't just let hollows run around doing what they want," Rukia said, hoping this kid wouldn't take the "no" too harshly. Luffy frowned. "Why not?" he asked. He still hadn't fully accepted the idea of him being a hollow, since that would mean he was… dead, and that was impossible. He was going to be the pirate king! He couldn't be dead, right? Then again, this girl had spoken of dying with regrets, and not fulfilling one's dreams certainly did count as a regret but… "because we're-, HE'S, a shinigami. Shinigami fight hollows," Rukia explained in as simple terms as she possibly could, pointing a thumb at Ichigo. Luffy looked over to Ichigo. "I don't wanna fight him, he gave me food!" Luffy said sternly. This gave Rukia an idea. "Luffy, you… would you eat Ichigo? Or me?" Rukia asked seriously.

Luffy didn't even know how to respond at first. So, after deciding that staring blankly at people was a little rude, he decided to assume it was a joke, and laughed at the very idea. Rukia, however, was having none of it. "I'm being serious," she said, crossing her arms. Luffy stopped laughing. Leaning back, he crossed his arms as well. "No," he replied simply. "I eat meat! And humans are not meat!" Luffy started with a grim expression on his face. He was serious. Rukia found herself understanding this boy way more than she expected to. He was a surprisingly simple, honest boy who simply didn't know what was going on. Out of the corner of her eye, Rukia could tell Ichigo was giving her a death glare.


	2. Chapter 2, just a little angst to keep characters consistent and stuff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luffy talks to Ichigo and Rukia a bit more, Luffy gets sad cuz all his friends might as well be dead and then they all go to bed before eight cuz it's a school night :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand here's where the more newly-made chapters begin!
> 
> Make sure to comment!!

"Don't ask him stuff like that! What if he awakens to his apatites or something!?" Ichigo shouted, pointing an accusing finger at his somewhat-mentor. Rukia did not humour him, casting him only a sidelong glance to visualise her thoughts on the matter.

"I hardly think Luffy here would do something like that, would he?" Rukia said, glancing at Luffy purposely. Luffy didn't much know how to respond that, so he just stared blankly at her. "You wouldn't, right? You said so yourself?"

"Yeah, no! Nuh-uh!" Luffy affirmed/declined", shaking and nodding his head at the same time. Ichigo wasn't much convinced. This was all very strange, and if that weirdo boy made just a single wrong move, Ichigo would attack without hesitation. He could feel that boy was more than he seemed to be, no matter how inconspicuous he seemed to be. Then again, Rugia also seemed to be a fair bit on edge, so…

"That's good. But, Luffy, I have to ask… what can you remember from before you, well, died?" Rugia asked, getting the conversation back on track. Luffy squinted, looked off into the distance, and thought real hard. He really couldn't remember that much. Most names except everything to do with the war seemed pretty much gone. Faces, names, all that was poof gone. But he could feel them.

"I sailed the blues, with my Nakama. We were searching for… something. The-, the One Piece. If you found the One Piece, you become Pirate King! That was my dream," Luffy reminisced, already having taken off his straw hat to peer longingly at it. Just thinking about his Nakama made his heart ace. He had to find them, and that soon. "I don't remember much, but… but this is my treasure! This is what tells me who I am, what I want to be! And… I need to find my Nakama. They're my family."

"I'm not sure how to ask this, but, are you sure the events you're talking about only happened a year or so ago? There aren't many pirates about at this time, and I don't think any of them are in search of a 'One Piece'," Rukia said, her eyes trailing towards the seemingly critical straw hat.

"Huh? No, that's-, that's impossible!" Luffy said, slamming his hands on the table to stand up. "Sure, I haven't been counting the days or anything, but I'm sure it hasn't been that long! Which-, which blue is this? We were last in the New World, I'm sure I can catch back up to them if I hurry!" Luffy said, and with that, he was off, and nobody could stop him.

"Hey! Calm it, squirt!" Ichigo said, trying to reach out to stop him from going outside, but not only would he have been by far too weak for it, but it wouldn't have helped anyway. Luffy had made up his mind. And with that, he burst out the door, and let the cool night breeze flow over him. The night was dark and the sky was lit by countless, oddly-placed stars. Luffy was no astrologist, he'd never spent too much thought on the formations in the sky, but even so, he could tell something was wrong.

The biting breeze ran through his ebony hair, the edge of his treasure ebbing under the strain. He seemed to be standing in a road of some sort, but it was all strange. Everything was covered in some sort of hard, dark looking rock, moulded into specific shapes. It felt… artificial. Wrong. Nothing was right. The air tasted… different. Could Luffy recall a time on land where the air didn't have that familiar salty tang to it? No, the only instances of that were on the truly large islands.

"Hey, cool it, I said!" Ichigo shouted, bursting out of the house to stop Luffy, Rukia closely behind him. Thankfully, Luffy hadn't gone anywhere, but was instead just kind of standing around, looking around in confusion.

"Luffy, I think I might have a solution!" Rukia said, grabbing Luffy's exposed white shoulder. Luffy didn't seem to notice. "I think-, I think you're not from this world! Not this world of the living, not Soul Society, none of them! I believe that you might just be from an entirely different universe, with a war and pirates and-, and you!"

The second the words left her mouth, a pressure unlike anything she had ever felt slammed into her, as if a truck had fallen straight on top of her, crushing both spirit and body. The world seemed to be on her shoulders, and she could barely handle her. She could barely breathe. Her whole body trembled and shook violently, whether in fear or exertion, she didn't know. She couldn't bear thinking of it.

"So, you're saying… I can never see my Nakama again?" Luffy rumbled, his head turning slightly, allowing his eye to meet Rukia's. She was scared, frightened, trembling. Just the sight of his abyss-like gaze was enough to render her speechless. He hated to see her like this. He hated to feel this… empty. But he couldn't help it. He knew she was right.

But admitting she was right was a different thing entirely.

It meant admitting that all he'd worked for, all the friends he'd made, all the enemies he'd defeated, all the goals he'd aspired for - was all gone. Dead. Like him.

Men don't cry.

But even so, he could feel the red-hot tears welling up in his eyes.

The pressure wasn't just on Rukia and Ichigo, he felt it just as well on his own shoulders. He should have gotten mad. Maybe hurt someone. But he couldn't. The feelings he'd been repressing the last year, the need for friendship, the desire for solace, his longing for what was robbed of him, it all became too much.

He simply collapsed, and wailed. Cried. Mourned his own death.

The pressure was gone, and they could breathe. But even so, they didn't dare take another step closer to the heap of sobs that Luffy had become. For a good five minutes, the two soul reapers simply stood and watched as the howl of a hollow took on a far more melancholic tone.

And after that was all said and done, he simply passed out. Fell asleep right there on the curb.

Ichigo and Rukia met gazes, both equally tired, confused and scared.

"...I'll bring him inside again," Ichigo said, trodding up to the passed out young boy without any conviction that what he was doing was the right thing to do. Rukia couldn't do anything but follow him back inside. Once inside, she closed the door, sat down by the table, and waited for Ichigo to come back downstairs.

"He's fast asleep alright. I put him in dad's bed. So, uh, Rukia, now that he's asleep, what the fuck is going on?..." Ichigo politely enquired, plopping down on the chair adjutant to Rukia's, spreading his legs wide more out of exhaustion than anything else. Rukia, face covered in her hands, didn't answer at first.

"...I'm not sure what to tell you. Luffy is… a hollow, you're right on the money with that. But it's not that easy."

"Yeah, I can see that! How come he doesn't have a mask? How come he seems perfectly normal?"

"I… I don't know! I've never seen anything like him, but… you felt that spirit energy too. He doesn't seem too hostile right now, but that could change at any moment. I'll be staying the night to keep an eye on him, and if he's more alright in the morning, I know just the vendor to ask about these sorts of things. Until then, you'll have to keep him distracted. But we'll keep in touch," Rukia said.

Ichigo squirted at her. He still didn't trust this chick too much, not that he trusted the guy snoring loudly upstairs either. But it's not like he had a choice in the matter.

"...You do know it's Thursday tomorrow, right? How am I supposed to keep that weirdo occupied while I'm at school!?"

"I don't know! Just do it!"

"Fine. Whatever. But I'll be ready to beat his ass at any time!" Ichigo scowled, crossing his arms. Rukia almost smirked at the idea but caught herself in time. "I'm going to bed. See you."

And with that, the evening was all rounded up, and another day was ready to begin.

And begin it did.


	3. Chapter 3, an odd morning with an odd hollow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo, uh. This is a sort of old fic? From my other account, on fanfiction. I'll be posting chapters of it onto here, but even then, I want y'all to remember that I haven't read Bleach in a good while, so if any of the characters act oddly or if the world isn't operating as it should, that's on me. 
> 
> But if you got through the first chapter, I guess you could get through anything...

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, are you awake? Hey, hey," when Ichigo woke up, he was met with the grim realization that last night had, in fact, not been a dream. Sitting cross-legged on his chest was the grinning hollow he'd picked up just last night. Ichigo could feel the scowl manifesting on his face. He wanted to just roll over, close his eyes and pretend this was all just one big nightmare, but Luffy had caught that glare, and he wasn't going to just let Ichigo go back to sleep.

"Hey, hey, are you going to make me more food? Hey, you will, right?" Luffy pestered, leaning in closer to Ichigo's face. Ichigo tried desperately to just keep his eyes closed and ignore the hyper hollow sitting on his chest. Strangely enough, although Luffy clearly had some weight, he wasn't that heavy. At this moment, that was a good thing. "Heeeey. I know you're awake."

Ichigo may have had a strong will, but when someone poked him in the face, he couldn't just pretend he was asleep anymore.

"Alright, I'm awake! So get off my chest!" Ichigo roared, pushing both Luffy and his covers off of him. Luffy clattered to the floor with a peal of laughter, apparently not caring too much about the rough treatment. Hopping back up on his feet, Luffy smiled brightly at Ichigo, clearly expecting something from him. Ichigo hoisted her feet over the edge of the bed and met the hollow boy's sparkling eyes. "...What?"

"Adventure!" Luffy said, his smile only growing brighter.

"Ad… venture?" Ichigo asked, somewhat flabbergasted.

"Yes! A whole new world to explore, people to meet, friends to make!" Luffy said, waving his arms wildly as if to illustrate just how much there was to find.

"You want to go exploring? Here…?" Ichigo asked, standing up to get out of his bed fully.

"Yes!" Luffy said without hesitation, balling both of his fists, clearly excited out of his mind.

Now, considering Luffy and who he was, Ichigo figured he might want something like that. He didn't seem to be the sort of guy who'd become a pirate for the treasure or something, but… that wasn't the problem. The problem was that he couldn't let Luffy do this. He couldn't just let a hollow go about doing whatever it pleased.

However, he couldn't stop him, either. Sure, he didn't know exactly how strong Luffy was, but he was clearly strong enough to pacify both him and Rukia without much intent. So, there was only one thing he could do.

"Hey, uh, Luffy?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you come along with me? I have to go to school, and… and that'll be super fun! So, if you want to just come along with me, I'm sure you'll have a grand ol' time?" Ichigo asked, knowing he was making a huge mistake by just suggesting the idea.

"Hmmm…" Luffy hummed, squinting suspiciously at the idea, lower lip pouting out weirdly. "Sure!"

Ichigo sighed and let his body relax. What time was it?... his eyes groped for a clock to tell the time, but the second they landed on his night-stand, he found that his clock had been replaced by an unrecognizable pile of metal and plastic. He glanced back at Luffy. Luffy was doing that thing again, where he whistled to one side and glanced off to another, arms behind his neck.

"Hey!" Ichigo roared, and Luffy scrambled out the door on all fours, leaving Ichigo to guess at the time himself. The sun had already risen a fair bit, so if his sleeping habits were anything to go by, he was already late. Cursing under his breath, he donned his uniform and burst out of the door, suitcase in hand. But before he could run down the stairs and out the door, he noticed the door to the master bedroom was open.

Right, Rugia was supposed to have been keeping an eye on Luffy, wasn't she? Peeking inside, he found her passed out asleep on a chair, no a care in the world.

"Wake up, tart-face, we gotta get going!" Ichigo barked at her, taking glee in how her whole body jerked awake, eyes wide and threatened. She was already wearing her uniform, so at least she wouldn't have to change into it.

"Huh?! What? Where-?" she said, her eyes darting around, finally falling on the empty bed. "Oh, shi-,"

"He's right over here, come on, we have to get going!" Ichigo ordered, already turning around to run down the stairs. Rukia hesitantly followed, scrambling down the stairs alongside him. Luffy, like some sort of dog, had decided to stand by the door to wait for them, hopping from one foot to the other in sheer excitement. Ichigo decided to ignore him and instead pull open the door and run outside.

So it was the three were running side by side, Rukia well out of breath, Luffy laughing at everything, his big eyes greedily taking in the scenery and everybody in it. Ichigo didn't like it and for good reason. Sure, he was ready to do something at any time, but he still feared he might not be quick enough.

"Hey, Strawberry?" Luffy said, and Ichigo realized that not only had he gotten a nickname, but the voice came from right by his left side, which was seriously odd, since Luffy had been running on his right side, beside Rukia.

"Whoa!" Ichigo exclaimed, and rightfully so. "You can't just-, yeah, what is it?"

"How come I'm all white and stuff?" Luffy asked, showing his bony white hand as proof. Ichigo didn't know whether to laugh to cry.

"Luffy, as we said yesterday, you're a hollow, maybe, and that means you're not exactly human," Ichigo explained. Luffy furrowed his eyes and frowned.

"I feel human though…" he mumbled, and within a second, he was back to running beside Rukia. Too fast to see. Not fun.

But before they could get too far, Rukia ground to a halt, prompting the two others to stop as well.

"What's wrong, Rukia? We have to get-,"

"I'll be right with you, I've got to go ask someone about all this," Rukia said, and without waiting for an answer, dashed off in some seemingly random direction.

"Whoa, can I go with her?" Luffy asked, pointing at her fading image.

"No, you can't now get running!"

"Awwhh, okayyy," Luffy whined.

Soon enough, the school came into view, and just as the bell rang, too.

"Shit-!" Ichigo huffed under his breath, his pace increasing.

"Hey, stra-,"

"What is it?!"

"Why are we running?" Luffy asked, tilting his head curiously.

"Because we have to get to school on time, now shut up or I'll punch you!"

"Mleh, alright," Luffy said, poking his tongue out at the stressed-out teen. The gate was already halfway to closing fully, a burly man on the other side leering at the fast-approaching Ichigo. He surely didn't expect the boy to get in, not with so little time left. He'd need supernatural powers for that, something "nobody" did!

But Ichigo did. Not that he needed them for this. No, like some sort of action hero, he instead threw his body on the ground, launched himself, and slid inside the gate just as it closed. The burly man was steaming, but there was nothing he could do.

"Hey, heyyy, can't I come inside?..." Luffy said, leaning on the gate in a manner that made it look as if he had melted onto it, eyes dewey and sad. The burly man did not answer, partially because his eyes were glaring at Ichigo instead, and entirely because he couldn't see him.

Ichigo would say something, he really would have, but speaking to ghosts when people were looking straight at him usually didn't look too good. So, instead, he did the next thing. He grabbed Luffy's attention, and nodded to the inside of the schoolyard.

Luffy's eyes lit up, and with little to no hesitation, he simply jumped the fence, and ran up to Ichigo, a mischievous smile on his face. Ichigo turned around, pretending not to see anything, while Luffy made faces at the buff man who didn't see anything.

This was all very, very cool. All the houses were really weirdly shaped, sure, especially this big house they had come to, which was extraordinarily blocky. Luffy really didn't know exactly what was going on or what this place was, but he followed Ichigo nonetheless. Through winding hallways filled with weird lockers and things, he gawked at every sight.

But Luffy was not the kind of person to just walk through a crowd without saying anything.

"Yo! I'm Luffy!" he practically shouted at a random passing student, sticking out his hand for them to grab. Sadly, the teenager was not of the special variety, and so could not see Luffy in the least. Instead, the boy, ruefully unaware of his situation, bumped straight into Luffy, and crashed onto the floor, confused and scared.

"What the fuck-," the boy mumbled, his paranoid eyes grabbing handfuls of nothing in search of whatever he had bumped into. People around him drew to a stop, curious gazes falling on his visage.

"See, that's what happens when you ignore someone!" Luffy said, his stretched-out hand now lowering so that the teen could grasp it. But he didn't. Luffy might have considered that rude, which it kind of was, but that guy couldn't just sit there on the ground forever, so he took the incentive.

And by incentive, he actually grabbed the boy's hand, and pulled him up on his feet.

"There you are!" Luffy said, and without paying the pale-faced terrified youth a glance, he quickly dusted him off. "You're a pretty rude fella, aren't you?"

"L-, Luffy-!" Ichigo whispered harshly, finally having recognized the supernatural situation taking place. Before Luffy could say anything in his defence, Ichigo had grabbed his arm and pulled him into a nearby restroom. "Look, Luffy, you remember I told you you weren't human?"

"Uhhh, no? Wait… yeah!" Luffy said, his gaze trailing from Ichigo's panicked face to look at all the weird things in the room.

"Yeah, well, part of being a hollow is that, well, people can't see you."

Luffy frowned and looked down at his bony-white hand. Clear as day.

"But I can see me just fine?"

"Luffy, look, people can't see you. You're invisible. You can touch them and all that, but they can't hear you or see you," Ichigo explained, feeling a migraine coming on.

"Oh. Oooooh. So how come you and that other chick and see me?"

"Well, that's because we're soul reapers. So we can see ghosts and hollows and, well, you," Ichigo said, hoping he could end this conversation as soon as possible so he could get to class as soon as possible.

Luffy nodded gravely.

"Ghosts. Scary. Hope I never meet one of them," Luffy said, crossing his arms.

"Great, alright, let's go, I don't want to miss class," Ichigo said, dragging the limp Luffy outside once more. The walk to the classroom was a breeze, and Luffy, somehow, didn't get into trouble at all, and just followed Ichigo obediently. Had Ichigo known Luffy any better, he might have been rightfully suspicious of how normally he was acting.

Once they actually got into the classroom and Ichigo sat down by his desk, only having incurred a little wrath from the attending teacher, Luffy was left with the stunning realization that, one, he didn't have a place, and two, school is really boring.

"This is booringgggggg" Luffy whined, having melted onto Ichigo's desk with no shame to be seen. Not only that, but he was being ignored. Ichigo would barely even spare him a glance, much less a word. Mind you, not even ten minutes had passed. He would not be able to survive much longer if this continued. So he made a choice.

Standing up fully, he went exploring. Well, all he really did was wander up to the students sitting at their desks, waving a hand in front of their face and saying "helloooo, can you hear me?" which none of them did. Except for one.

Walking by the third row of people he'd been attempting to pester, he finally found himself in front of a long-haired orange-haired girl. She seemed… distracted. Her face was pale and twitchy, and altogether it rubbed Luffy the wrong way.

"Hey. Heeey. You hear me?" he asked, leaning his body so that his face was right in front of her. She was trying to ignore him, he knew that much, but he didn't know why.

She really had no idea what was happening. First Ichigo had walked in late with this strange boy in tow, and then… nothing. Well, nothing for the most part. Nobody had reacted to the boy. Nobody had even so much as spared him a glance. She could tell Ichigo knew he was there, since not only did Ichigo enter with him, but he also gave the boy a look she knew meant something.

And then he'd started going around, just asking if people could see him. Nobody did. That was all the confirmation Orihime needed. This boy wasn't human. His eyes were black. His skin was ivory. When he looked her in the eye, she couldn't dare look back at him.

"Hey, I know you can see me," the boy said, grinning broadly. She didn't want to affirm anything, but when his face was the only thing she could see it was hard not to look him in the eye. And the moment she did, his whole countenance lit up like a smouldering pyre given a whole tank of gasoline. "I knew it, I knew it! Strawberry, hey, Strawberry, I found someone!"

"Shh," she said, holding one finger before her mouth in an attempt to shush him. It did not work. Instead, it only hyped the boy up further, who was close to skipping.

"I'm Luffy! I'm a pirate! Do you want to be my friend?" Luffy greeted, holding out his hand. She glanced up at him, and then back at the hand. The teacher was writing something on the blackboard. She took his hand and shook it lightly, just a tad bit surprised at being able to touch it.

"...Orihime," she mumbled, casting a nervous look at the teacher.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed, happy to have found something to do.

Orihime knew something was up. Something was wrong. This boy… might know the answer. It was a risky move, but even if he didn't know much of anything, he might be able to tell her something she didn't know.

"Teacher?"

"Yes, Orihime?"

"May I go to the restroom?"

"...Very well, but make it quick, will you?"

"Yes, sir," she said, stood up, and with a purposeful nod to Luffy, she exited the classroom with him in tow.

"Teacher, may I go as well?..." Ichigo asked.

"No, you may not, now sit down."


	4. Chapter 4, toilet intervention

"Hey, I can't be in here!" Luffy protested, halting just outside the door to the girl's bathroom. Orihime still held the door open, waving him inside without actually answering him. Luffy, however, was stubborn and would not take silence for an answer, instead shaking his head fiercely and crossing his arms. "Nuh-uh! If I go in there, I'm sure you've got an ambush or something set up!"

"Look, unless you're a vampire, in which case you're welcome inside, there is no reason for you not to be able to enter!" Orihime said in that strange half-whisper-half-shout one can at times makes. She wanted to grab his arm to force him inside, but somehow, she felt that'd only make her look more suspicious.

"I'm not a vampire, I'm a pirate!" Luffy stated matter-of-factly, standing his ground. Orihime didn't know what to do with him. He seemed about as stubborn as a donkey, and about equally as unmovable. A stray thought caught her attention. If you can't reason with a child, speak on their level.

"Well, you know, sure, normally you wouldn't be entering the girl's bathroom, but… if a girl invites you, it's okay", Orihime said, a knowing smirk on her lips. Luffy stared at her blankly, the few cogs he had in his head slowly turning.

"Ah. Really?!"

"Really."

"Well, okay then!" Luffy finally said, striding right into the no-guys-allowed-zone without a care in the world. Orihime followed behind him, making sure to close the door tightly behind them. "So, what'd you want?" Luffy asked, arms behind his head. Orihime didn't answer immediately, but instead eyed him up and down, before checking the stalls for people. Thankfully, there was nobody around, but even so, she didn't feel too comfortable talking to this… thing. "Hey, you hear me?"

"Yes, but someone else might as well! Now I know nobody's spying on us!" Orihime said, looking grimly serious. Luffy nodded thoughtfully.

"Yes, nobody must know we're here. No, wait, why's that a problem?" Luffy asked, suddenly confused over all this secrecy. Was it really that bad if someone heard him? And since nobody could hear what he said anyway, what was the big deal.

"That's because, uhhh… well, on TV, when you're gonna talk about super-secret stuff, you have to make sure nobody can see or hear what you're doing!"

"Oooh. Okay, yeah, makes sense to me," Luffy said, totally convinced. But, within only seconds, his confidence turned to confusion. "So, what are we going to talk about?"

"Uhh… I'm not sure? I think I had a reason, but," her equally confused eyes swept over Luffy, drinking in his visage, "oh, right! Why are you like that? What are you?"

"I'm a pirate!" Luffy reinstated, a big goofy grin on his face.

"No, I mean, why do you look like that?" Orihime said, gesturing at Luffy's body. Luffy frowned.

"Is there something wrong with how I look?" Luffy asked, genuinely sort of perplexed.

"Well, yeah! Or do you think all pirates look like that?" Orihime said, pointing at the mirror, wherein both of their reflections could be seen. Luffy furrowed his brows and glanced at the mirror. Two ebony eyes peered back at him, framed by a pale white face, with a piece of bone seemingly just stuck under his left eye, where his scar would otherwise be. Even more troubling, he found that his chest had been seemingly gouged out, leaving an X-shaped hole right in the middle of it. Ichigo had pointed it out earlier, but together with the rest of Luffy looked, it came off as just a bit frightening.

"Whoa!" Luffy said, jumping back a bit. Of course, he'd seen his skin was white and all, but the black eyes were new. "I look terrible!"

"That's not true, you just look a bit odd! But, uh, why do you look like this? And why can't people see you?..." Orihime asked, taking a step closer to Luffy, who rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"Well, see, that's the thing, uh… Strawberry did tell me about it, but I wasn't really listening, so… Wait, wait, I do remember this! I died, and… and then I became something called a hollow or something? I'm not sure, but Strawberry brought me to this weirdo place to keep an eye on me," Luffy explained as best as he could.

"Strawberry… Do you mean Ichigo? Oh, man, maybe I shouldn't have pulled you off to the side like this, well… Well! So you're a ghost pirate? That's so cool!" Orihime said, eyes glittering at the thought of meeting such a cool creature. Luffy smiled brightly, his eyes filled with determination.

"Yeah! Not only that, I'm going to become the-, no, wait, that's… Oh, right, I might as well mention I'm not from this universe at all, shishishi!" Luffy only now told her. At first, she looked about as confused as anybody would have in her situation, but after a few seconds of digesting this information, her body and soul lit up in excitement completely incompatible to what she had previously exhibited.

"WHOA!" she exclaimed, completely forgetting that, well, she was in a public restroom, and people could probably hear her outside. Regardless of this fact, her curiosity could not be quelled so easily. "So-, not only are you from another dimension, you're also a pirate, AND you're a ghost!? HOW COOL IS THAT!?"

Luffy's eyes glittered for a moment at the thought, but the light was extinguished before it had time to live.

"Well, I… it would be cool. Really cool, but… I had to leave all my Nakama behind, and… and my dream too, so," Luffy admitted, feeling the tears pool in his eyes. Damnit, he'd told himself he wouldn't cry anymore, what's gone is gone! All he could do now was look forward, make new friends, go on new adventures! Mourning the past wouldn't help with anything!

"Oh, oh no! I'm sorry! I just-, here," Orihime said, and with no further talk, she pulled Luffy into her arms. His body shuddered, but she didn't let go. Like an angel's wings, her warm embrace seemed to get something out of Luffy. Tears fell, he met her embrace with his own, and for a moment, he was allowed his solace.

And then, the door burst open, and an athletic-looking young woman ran inside, immediately closing the door behind her. Bright eyes flickering over the strange scene before her, namely: her best friend Orihime attempting to hug a dark cloud. Tatsuki didn't know what to make of it. She had only gotten excused because the teacher thought it was some sort of girl-thing.

Tatsuki knew that something was wrong, the second Ichigo walked into class followed by a black cloud of odd distortions. Nobody seemed to see it, but once it came up to Orihime… God, Tatsuki was this close to just getting up and punching the damn thing, but… she didn't But after Orihime left class with it, a strained expression on her face, she couldn't sit still for long.

So, she ran through the whole school (not expecting her to go where she said she would) and eventually realized where she was only due to the fact that Orihime had practically screamed, which was enough to raise Tatsuki's panic-level to unprecedented heights.

And so it was that she stood there, chest heaving, staring at the sight ahead of her. Heart pounding in her ears, eyes bloodshot, she failed to hear Orihime try to explain herself, and instead, Tatsuki was left with one solution: violence.

Without a second's delay, she shot at the cloud, now dislodged from Orihime, and gave it a sucker-punch to rival a high-speed truck. The cloud smashed into the sinks, cracking one of them and sending water flying, but it didn't dissipate, unlike what Tatsuki had expected. It almost seemed human in the way that it heaved itself back up.

"Tatsuki, what'd you that for!?" Orihime scolded, running up to Tatsuki, one finger in the air, wiggling back and forth like some suburban mother telling off her son for breaking the lamp. "Luffy, are you alright? It was Luffy, right?"

"Yup, and it would take much more than this to harm me, shishishi!" Luffy said, picking himself back up. Tatsuki could not understand any of this. She could see the cloud, she could even somewhat hear it, but she couldn't understand it.

"O-, Orihime, what's going on here!?" Tatsuki said, pointing at the cloud and back at Orihime herself. Orihime glanced at the cloud, and then at Tatsuki.

"I was talking to Luffy?" she said innocently, tilting her head like a confused puppy. From the sinks, Luffy added a "yeah!" but Tatsuki couldn't catch it.

"And… who is Luffy?" Tatsuki asked, glancing at "Luffy" meaningfully.

"He's a dimension-travelling-pirate-ghost!" Orihime almost squealed, clasping her hands together. Tatsuki squinted at the spot where the so-called pirate ghost stood. Luffy squinted back, if only to compete. "He's right over there!"

"Yeah, I can see that," Tatsuki said, looking over at Luffy, who was now up and walking.

"Pleasure meetin' ya!" Luffy said as he strode up to Tatsuki, reaching out his hand for her to grasp. Well, she should have grasped it. Instead, she flinched, hesitantly meeting eyes with the almost oblivious Orihime.

"Do you know what it's trying to do?..."

Orihime, once more, tilted her head.

"He's greeting you? Can't you see him?"

"Well, yeah, but it's not like he has any real form. He looks like a cloud."

"He does? Hmm, that's weird, I can see him just fine!"

"And I can see you two just fine, too!" Luffy added.

"...What did he say just now?"

"He said he can see us just fine, why?"

"Well, isn't that ominous."

By this point, Luffy had grown a fair bit bored and decided to just get the introductions over with, namely by just grabbing Tatsuki's hand and shaking it, declaring his name and occupation. For a moment, Tatsuki's face was lit up in confusion, panic, and just a twinge of fear. But soon that grimace turned to a much more muted one, blank-faced and dead-eyed.

"Huh? You alright, loud girl?" Luffy asked, waving his hand in front of her face. And, sure enough, that seemed to do the trick. Her eyes re-adjusted, life returned to her face, and her gaze was immediately laid on Luffy's own face, which was just a tad too close for comfort.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, a power right-hook flying out and connecting with Luffy's face, once more sending him flying.

"Hey, what was that for!?" Luffy complained.

"What were you so close to my face for?!" Tatsuki rebuked, holding up her fist threateningly.

"Wow, you understood him!" Orihime commented, eyes filled with stars.

"Huh? Yeah, I -, oh. Whoa," Tatsuki said, ogling the now once-more standing form of Luffy. He certainly was quite otherworldly. "Wow, you really are a dimension-hopping pirate ghost…"

"I DON'T USUALLY LOOK LIKE THIS!" Luffy said, threatening with his own fist.

"What do you usually look like?" Orihime asked curiously.

"Well, I used to have normal-coloured skin, normal eyes, and I didn't wear all-black. This is really icky," Luffy commented, prodding at his makeshift hollow leather attire. "In other words, I was a normal human being! Well, I did have my devil fruit powers, but I was still human."

"What's a devil fruit?" Tatsuki asked, finally cooling down a bit.

"...You don't have devil fruits over here?... well, uh, a devil fruit is this fruit that gives you a power, but you can't swim. And since most everything is sea, that's a pretty big deal," Luffy explained.

"Whoa, so like a superpower!?" Orihime asked cheerfully, to which Luffy shrugged. "Then, what power did you have?"

"I'm a rubberma-," Luffy was about to do that stunt where he pulled at his cheek to make it stretch, but… it didn't. It felt tough and rigorous, much like every other part of his body. "Huh. Well, I," Luffy tugged at his pinkie, "-I guess I used to be a rubberman."

The way he said that was filled with more pain than there should have been.

"Rubberman?" Orihime asked, but before Luffy could answer, there was a loud ringing, like the golden bell on top of the sky islands, except far more annoying. "Shoot, that's the bell! We missed the whole class! Come on, let's get back to the classroom!"

And with that, the odd trio was off, running through the halls towards their goal: a savoury lunch.

Meanwhile, running right past them, was a more than distraught Ichigo. He'd lost the hollow boy. He'd just up and lost him! Now Luffy was god-knows-where, hopefully not doing anything too bad but probably doing semi-bad things, just because, well. Pirate. A familiar tone rang out from inside Ichigo's trouser, and with a curse under his breath, Ichigo opened up the message.

"Ichigo, meet me by the front of the school. Bring Luffy. -Rukia," it read, prompting Ichigo to further cursing.


	5. Chapter 5, A ploy to defeat a certain hollow in a certain straw-hat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so, um. I did a goof and accidentaly skipped a chapter. Why? Well, it's a rather complex story, but here goes.
> 
> It all began when I wrote my first One Piece fanfiction, which also happened to be my first fanfiction. It was Pirate King Luffy goes to Earth, but it's seriously unimportant right now. Now, the document I wrote that story in was called "Bink" after Bink's sake, since I was a tired idiot who hadn't started working out and taking care of his body yet. Anyhoo, in that document, I proceeded to write 9000 words, the first chapter of that first story, which I've dubbed Bink 1, alongside a few other stories, namely this one, which I called Bink 2. Very creative, I know. The original Bink doc also had a few starters for some other potential fics, most notably an AtLA/One Piece crossover where Ace went to the AtLA world and an Overlord/BnHA crossover where Momonga went to that world. The usual. 
> 
> Either way, when I continued and posted these two stories at later dates, they got their own docs labelled Bink 1 and 2 respectively, and when I put all the chapters in the outdated fanfiction.new doc manager, I labelled the first chapter Bink 2, and the second chapter Bink 21, the third Bink 22, you get the gist. It was a terrible idea, really, and in hindsight it means if I'm looking at Bink 24, it's actually not chapter 4, but instead chapter 5. Yeah. 
> 
> That is the mistake I made.
> 
> Hope none of you noticed.

Rukia, meanwhile, was waiting outside the school together with an unusually serious Kisuke, feeling quite anxious herself. Sure, she had thought this Luffy pirate ghost boy was quite extraordinary, but to make Kisuke act like this was, well… eerie. He'd always been laid back, even when she entered the shop.

"Considered getting the upgrade for your gaiga yet?" he asked, smirking lazily. He knew the answer to that question and so did she, but he could never have anticipated what she was actually there for. In fact, she wasn't exactly too sure either.

"No, not quite. I'm here for something… different. What do you know about hollows that look like humans?" Rukia asked, leaning on the counter. Kisuke's eyes sharpened.

"What for?"

"I… may have met one," Rukia admitted. She was ready to place all cards on the table. Kisuke squinted, a nonverbal prompt for her to continue. "In-, in fact, I may have invited him in. Well, I didn't personally invite him, but Ichigo did, and well, he found him unconscious so I guess I wouldn't have left him out in the cold either, but-,"

"You WHAT?!" Kisuke practically screamed, a reaction Rukia really should have expected since she reacted the same way when Ichigo messaged her about it. However, what she didn't expect along with the disbelief was the panic in his voice. "Tell me more about them."

"Y-, yes. He seemed to be young and said he'd only been a hollow for a year or so. He didn't know what a hollow was when he first woke up, and he didn't believe us when we told him he was one. He had what seemed to be a fragment of a mask underneath one of his eyes. Oddly enough, the only colourful piece of clothing he wore was a yellow straw hat with a red band on it. Oh, and, most interestingly enough, he gave off no spirit energy, except for in a short bout, which was powerful enough to immobilized both me and Ichigo."

Kisuke collapsed into a chair, murmuring something about how that's what caused the spike in activity last night. Rukia stepped up closer to him, her face filled with worry.

"-We have to get going. Where is the hollow now?" Kisuke said, already getting back out of the chair he'd collapsed into. This was no time to sit around. Unless they acted quickly, Karakura town might be reduced to cinders before they could do anything about it. Rukia didn't seem to understand any of what was happening. If anything, she seemed too baffled to answer, her mouth hanging open loosely and her forehead scrunched up, either in worry or confusion. Possibly both. "Well? Where is it?!"

"I-, he should be down at Karakura high-school, with Ichigo-, is-, is this really such a big deal?"

"Yes, of course it is! I have to prepare some things, get going immediately. Do not engage with the target before I arrive, do you copy?"

"Yes?"

"Good. Go!"

"Y-, yes!"

Funnily enough, Kisuke was first to arrive. Might be because he could run through buildings and fly, but it still sort of hurt. She'd really tried, y'know? Nevertheless, once she did arrive, she couldn't tell if he was angry at her, panicking, or not feeling anything. His face seemed to be a perfect poker-face, the stillness of the ocean hiding the seething torrents beneath.

However, other than that, the only thing different about him was the large black coat shrouding him from head to toe. It might have looked silly… no, actually, it did look silly. Especially so since the sky was bright and there wasn't a cloud to be seen. He might as well have been wearing a school-girl uniform, that way he'd at least had a chance of fitting in.

"Have you contacted Ichigo?" he asked, his voice just half an octave above the usual. There was definitely something off here. And he still wouldn't tell her what.

Rukia nodded, and Kisuke nodded back.

"You distract him, I'll get the jump on him," Kisuke said, but before he could even put his plan into works, Ichigo emerged from the school, looking about as panicked as Kisuke felt. No hollow in tow. Well, either that or the hollow had finally shown it's true colours and was chasing him. As it turned out, it was the former.

"I lost him! He just bounced on me! I-, wait, who's this?" Ichigo said, pointing at Kisuke, who became suitably perturbed at knowing his plan had failed. Never mind then.

"This is Kisuke Urahara, he-,"

"Not important! We have to find him before something happens, Ichigo, do you have any idea where he might be?"

"How am I supposed to know?! He left with Orihime, and after that, I don't-,"

"Well, where would Orihime go?"

"I don't know! Maybe-, she'd have to return to the classroom, so…"

"-Then that's where we'll be going."

And with that, the three were off. Of course, Rukia forced Ichigo's soul out of him so he could fight as well, although Ichigo still didn't understand what was happening. They left his body in the bushes.

Meanwhile, Luffy was whining like a begging dog, head on the desk, lip pouted, trying to get Orihime to give him just one little squid-shaped sausages she had in her lunch. Just one wouldn't make a difference, right? Especially since she seemed to have about 26 of them, and exactly nothing else. To most people, this would be an extremely unbalanced meal, but to Luffy, it seemed more like heaven on a plate.

Sadly, anytime Orihime was about to give in and give him just one little squid, Tatsuki wisely stopped her, arguing that if she gave him one, he'll just know he could get another. This back-and-forth continued for quite a while, until Rukia burst into the room, her eyes desperately searching for… someone. Following closely, Ichigo, clad in some strange black robe, entered the room, looking about as confused as he'd ever been. In his grip, a monstrously large sword hung, as if it didn't weigh a thing.

"Oh, hey Strawberry!" Luffy said, waving to the two with a broad smile. Both pairs of eyes fell on him at approximately the same time, before flickering to each other, a nod ending the strange string of events. Luffy was left confused.

With a poke in the form of an elbow to the side, Rukia urged the battle-ready but uncertain Ichigo to approach the "target". It kind of hurt, but Ichigo wouldn't admit it. So, instead, he approached the conjoined desk-table where Orihime and Tatsuki sat, with Luffy still hanging off the side of it. All three observed his approach, but Ichigo pretended only Luffy could see him. Sure, Orihime could probably also see him, but he'd rather she didn't since walking around in such a strange outfit would ruin their relationship, so he denied it to himself. Never did he even consider that Tatsuki could see him.

"Yo, uh, Luffy, can you come with me for a second?" Ichigo asked, pointing to the door of the classroom, where Rukia was desperately trying to avoid the gazes from the students inside the classroom. Luffy glanced to where Rukia stood and back at Ichigo, squinting suspiciously, before turning back to Orihime, who met his gaze. She seemed confused, constantly shooting glanced at Ichigo, who stood over them like a hawk.

"Nee, why should I?" Luffy said, almost defiantly.

Ichigo still didn't understand what was happening. Hollow or not, he didn't really think Luffy could do much of anything. Sure, he was undoubtedly a hollow, but it's not like he'd wanted it himself, and… so far, he didn't seem like such a bad guy. And, well, unless he actually did anything or threatened anyone, getting rid of him seemed a bit, well… wrong.

Still, he could be stubborn at the worst of times.

"I-," Ichigo suddenly recalled a little fact about Luffy, "if you come with me, I'll give you a whole steak for dinner." And that's all he had to say. The way Luffy's eyes glittered and his mouth drooled at the mere thought was enough to let him know he'd hit the nail right on the head. Luffy didn't hesitate to jump to his feet and follow Ichigo outside.

"Ichigo-?" Orihime mumbled as he walked away. He turned around. Their eyes met. He couldn't deny it anymore, could he? She'd seen him. She'd seen Luffy, too. God knows what he'd said to her. And yet, Ichigo didn't want to acknowledge it. He had enough on his plate as it was. She deserved an explanation, and not one from this hyperactive hollow, but from someone who actually knew what they were talking about. But that was for later.

So, he left her, instead bringing Luffy outside the classroom.

Luffy himself didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. Then again, the only one who seemed to know anything wasn't saying anything, so nobody actually knew how dangerous this was. But what made Luffy a somewhat special case was that not only was he whistling (horribly off-key), but he also had his arms behind his neck, looking singularity nonchalant.

Rukia followed them into the corridor, closing the door behind them. Kisuke was hiding in the shadows, observing the situation with no little restlessness. He had to act, and he had to act quick. A swift blow to the back of the neck should incapacitate him before he had time to use his Resurrection. Kisuke moved closer, his Zanpakuto ready. If he'd had more time, he could have prepared better.

"Is he with you guys?" Luffy asked, pointing to the battle-ready shinigami behind him with his thumb. Kisuke noticeably flinched, his weary gaze meeting with Rukia's, a plea for help, of sorts.

"I-, who are you talking about, Luffy?" Rukia asked, pleading ignorance. It didn't go over well. Luffy may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but his sense of battle was immaculate. He knew that man was over there, and he didn't even have to look at him to know his would-be assailant was growing alarmed. Now, Kisuke Urahara was not a foolish man. He knew when a plan had failed, and that was now.

"Ya got me," he admitted, hands in the air. Luffy didn't seem any less off-put by this.

"Man, you are really sketchy! Is he seriously with you?" Luffy asked once more, turning to Rukia in disbelief. And, well, Kisuke really did look quite sketchy. Speaking of Kisuke, he was being pleasantly surprised by how, well, human Luffy was. If he'd met him on the street, he'd also think twice before calling him a hollow. Much less one of the most powerful ones there are. But that's exactly what this kid was, especially considering how he'd seen through his Reiatsu-concealing cloak. That was no easy feat. In fact, it was so unlikely that Kisuke hadn't even considered the option. But… here he was.

"Yes, Kisuke is with us. I-, Kisuke, will you just tell us what you know already?" Rukia pleaded to Kisuke, who had taken off his cloak and somehow materialized his iconic striped hat out of nowhere.

"I'd love to, but I'm not sure the hollow should be around to hear of it," Kisuke said, shooting a distrusting gaze at the confused hollow in question.

"Luffy hasn't done nothing, I doubt he'll be able to do anything with the information anyways," Ichigo answered in Rukia's placed.

"Alright, so be it. But not here. Meet me by my shop at five o'clock," Kisuke said, leaving before any of them could argue it. Ichigo turned to Rukia, somewhat flabbergasted.

"Okay, NOW will you tell me who he is?"

"Yeah, yeah, tell us!" Luffy piped in if only to appease his own curiosity.

"He's the guy I bought this gaiga from. He's an inventor and a salesman, and that's all you need to know," Rukia explained briefly, not really going in on any details such as why he knew so much about hollows or why he knew who Ichigo was.

"Uh-huh, makes sense," Luffy said as a comment of sorts, even though he didn't really understand any of it.

"No, hold up, that barely explains anything!" Ichigo rightfully said, but Rukia ignored him.

"Alright, we'd better get back to class before we receive consequences!" Rukia said, heading back inside the classroom.

"What about my body!?" Ichigo asked sensibly.

The rest of the school day went by almost as usual, with the only tension being between Ichigo and Orihime. Luffy decided to spend the time by bouncing in between the two, not really doing much of anything except being bored. At one point, he pranked the teacher by "haunting" him, which Ichigo didn't appreciate (but brought Orihime to tear-filled laughter), but apart from that, jack-diddly-squat happened.

And then afternoon rolled around.


	6. Chapter 6, school's out for today but it still continues tomorrow

Luffy was just about ready to die a second time.

Boring, boring, boring. The teacher was boring, the students were boring, even the school was boring! The only thing even remotely interesting to Luffy was wandering around and annoying the four people who could see him, but even that had turned boring after they had all made a pact not to acknowledge him.

Just great.

After a time, the bell actually rang, and the students were all let out, which included Luffy and his gang. And nobody was more excited about this than Luffy.

"Will we finally go to that hat dude's place!?" Luffy asked, no, demanded, stars in his eyes as his fists pumped in the air. Ichigo and Rukia both glanced at the hyperactive boy, briefly wondering if any of this was a good idea. Kisuke was admittedly a genius, and he clearly knew what he was doing (although his plan had failed), but putting two eccentrics in one room might not be the best idea, regardless-,

"Ichigo!"

The man in question whipped his head around at being mentioned, coming face to face with the lightly huffing Orihime and her stoic friend Tatsuki. The five, Luffy included, were standing just outside of the school, the sun glaring down at them despite it almost being evening.

"Orihime…" Ichigo mumbled, loud enough for her to hear. With decidedly not-confident steps, Orihime walked up to the three, Tatsuki following just behind her, ready to enact her role as Orihime's protector at any time. Ichigo knew what she wanted to talk about, he could see it in her eyes, but even so, he didn't know what to say. "I-,"

"What is he?" she asked, glancing at the curiously silent Luffy. Ichigo looked at him as well, taking note of all the odd clearly-not-human features. "He-, he said he was a pirate ghost, and all that, but why is he like… that?"

"Orihime, this is not the place to talk about this," Ichigo said, his eyes traversing the environment. Students came and went, chattering in between themselves like magpies, some eyeballing both him and Orihime. "He is whatever he said he is, to be sure, but… We have to go. Can we talk about this, like, tomorrow or something?"

"Tomorrow my ass, what the fuck is he?!" Tatsuki butted in, pointing a big finger at either Ichigo or Luffy, it was quite uncertain by her tone of voice. Nevertheless, the two were a bit taken aback by the accusatory tone and movement.

"Hey, I'm human just like you!" Luffy stated unhelpfully.

"Luffy, you're not human! Look, classmates, this is not something that pertains to you. Come on, Ichigo, Luffy. If we don't get there before five, I'm pretty sure Kisuke will do something terrible horrible to us," Rukia rebutted, already turning around to leave Orihime and Tatsuki behind, no explanation or anything given.

"Rukia-, Orihime, I'll explain everything tomorrow, alright? You… you deserve it." And with that, Ichigo left as well, leaving Orihime and Tatsuki behind.

"See ya later, orange hair girl and loud girl!" Luffy said, waving largely to the two aforementioned girls. Neither girl actually waved back, but Luffy took it in stride and turned around to follow behind Rukia and Ichigo.

"Man, can you believe them?! A ghost-pirate thing appears and they act like it's every day! I can't-, hey, Orihime, you alright?" Tatsuki asked, turning to her muted friend. Her mouth seemed stuck between pouting and pulled thin, being upset or being solemn. Tatsuki recognized this, and it just made her even angrier at the lot. But she also knew that Orihime didn't want a rant about how terrible they were.

"...Ichigo…" Orihime mumbled, gazing at his fading back.

Ichigo himself certainly didn't feel any better himself. Ever since he'd saved Orihime from her brother, it'd felt like he swindling her from something. From the solace she had found in comforting her brother, from her realization of his identity… stealing that whole experience from her had chewed at him ever since it happened.

Although he was honestly a bit happy that he now could explain itself, he hadn't wanted it to happen like this. How had he wanted it to happen? That was… unsure.

"We've arrived," Rukia stated bluntly, prompting Ichigo to look up at their destination.

"Whooaaa, what's this dingy place?" Luffy asked rhetorically, and, well… yeah, it looked pretty run down. It seemed traditional in style, but it hardly seemed like the place would be a shop at all, with the front lot being just an empty, sandy area. The name of the shop, Urahara shop, was written out in bold letters atop the front. "Is this really where we're supposed to be?"

"Yes, not let's enter quickly. The time is running short," Rukia said with a nod, confidently striding towards the shop. Luffy shrugged and followed. Ichigo, still a bit out of it, somehow became the last one inside.

The second Luffy stepped inside, he was amazed. Not because the shop itself was any interesting, but instead because the various items on display were so… odd. Funny-looking! He barely even noticed the quickly retreating form of a little girl and boy. But even if the pair had been out in broad daylight, he wouldn't have cared. After all, he had a weird duck-shaped paddle to poke at!

"Hey, hollow, don't touch that!" that weird hat dude said, somehow materializing right at Luffy's side. Amusing, he was. Tall and lanky and blonde and strange. "In fact, don't touch anything in here, ever. That goes for you too, Ichigo."

"Hey!" Ichigo objected, but could say nothing more once given a harsh stare by the much, much older man. Grumbling, he put down a gun-looking thing.

"Don't call me that!" Luffy pouted out his lower lip defiantly, "I just wanted to check what it did." Kisuke trembled in anger.

"I'm saying you might blow something up!" Kisuke shouted, planting his fist square on top of Luffy's hat-covered head.

"Owch! What'd you do that for!?" Luffy said, his hands shooting up to rub at his head, even though it was all-too-obvious it hadn't actually hurt at all. Apparently, being hit on the head was nothing new to him, and reacting to it in that exact manner was part of his DNA at this point. Nevertheless, the tactic seemed to have worked, as Luffy left the wares alone, instead pacing back and forth, staring at them as a child stares at ice-cream.

With Luffy temporarily subdued, Kisuke exited the shop for a second to put up a "closed today" sign.

"Alright, follow me the lot of you," Kisuke ordered, watching long-eyed as the group dragged themselves over to where he stood. With everyone gathered around them, he removed a floor-board with well-trained movements. This revealed a hole with a ladder going down it. The three people that were not Kisuke glanced down it, finding the hole to be surprisingly deep. "Make sure not to slip or fall, if you do, I'll have to make you a new gigai, and that'll cost you a pretty penny, so don't-,"

He didn't even have time to finish the sentence before Luffy had literally jumped down the hole, not even bothering to grab hold of the latter. Kisuke would have facepalmed, and he not been so stunned. The same applied for Ichigo and Rukia, who stared at the hole as if it was a gate to a whole other world.

Way down, a thump resounded as Luffy smacked down into the bottom, his body not giving a single groan at the rough treatment.

"Whooooaaaa! Man, this place is huge!" Luffy awed, bringing one hand up to shield his eyes from a non-existent sun so he could look into the far distance. He couldn't see any end to the horizon, but that might just be an illusion of some sort. The sky was blue, the ground was covered with sand and dead/dying trees, what more could one wish for? But before he was to run in a given direction to see how far it went, he had someone to praise, just for the fuck of it.

Way up above, he could see his new friends climbing down, slowly and steadily, not eager to jump down into his newly-made small crater. The kindest option here would be to just leave them alone, and patiently wait for them to step down on the solid ground. But Luffy was not a patient man, and he was also a pirate.

Leaning down, he allowed his legs to bend, flexing and tensing up with power. Looking up at his destination he grinned. Calculations were nothing he needed to do to make the jump perfectly, he already knew how powerfully he had to jump (or perhaps weakly?) to reach the person of interest as quickly as possible without any overshoot.

With the slightest of commands, he was off, the crater he blasted out of deepening just the slightest. Air and things flashed past him, but he was used to these speeds. Within less than a second, he hung in the air, face to face with Kisuke.

"Yo, cool place, dude!" Luffy said casually, not really caring for the blank, stunned look Kisuke was giving him. And the next second, he fell down once more and crashed onto the ground. That done, his only other goal for the moment was to run until he couldn't anymore, at which point he'd have to turn back around.

But he'd have to do it before they all came down. So, in about… ten seconds? That was possible, right? He still hadn't quite tested his limits, so this would be fun! With that in mind, he took positions, crouched down, feet pumping with power. With a grin the size of the moon, he set of, a large cloud of dust rising as his form practically vanished.

But within less than three seconds, he was back.

Ichigo, the only witness to this terrifying feat of strength, could barely believe what he'd seen. The man had seemingly thrown down a smokescreen and reappeared inside it after three seconds. If Ichigo hadn't known this pirate ghost was somehow very very powerful (or something, who knows?) he might have just believe it to be a magic trick of some sort, but as it was, he started to fear Luffy might be up to something. Something no good.

Luffy, at noticing he had a spectator, grinned even broader and waved, perhaps in an effort to prove his might? Nevertheless, after a few more seconds, Ichigo joined Rukia and Kisuke down on the ground. The dust had only just now settled, and Kisuke seemed to notice the disturbance in the force.

"...Hollow, did you do something?" he asked, staring daggers into said hollow.

"N-, no-," Luffy lied, whistling while he stared off to the side. Ichigo recognized that face.

"He's lying."

"Hey, Strawberry, no fair!" Luffy exclaimed, supposedly very upset at being pointed out.

"...As long as you didn't do anything too harmful, well disregard it. Now, Ichigo," Kisuke said, and turned to Ichigo, a mischievous glint in his eyes that Ichigo certainly didn't like.

"Y-, yeah-?"

Without saying anything else, without even asking for permission, Kisuke raised his cane, and shoved the end of it into Ichigo's forehead, separating the body from the soul in one swoop.

"Hey, what'd you-?!"

"Hollow?"

"Yeah, hat dude?"

"Will you beat up Ichigo here for me?"

Luffy looked at Ichigo, who was gradually turning purple.

"Seriously? Why?"

Kisuke shrugged, "just do it."

"Well… alright!"

Luffy cracked his knuckles, and Ichigo raised his Zanpakuto.


	7. Chapter 7, friends spar, and we're friends, so it's okay?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand this is where it kinda sorta ends. I think? Writing this story is really damn hard since it's such an odd series and I haven't seen Bleach in far too long, so I don't really have any wish to continue it, unless someone convinces me otherwise.

"H-, hey, I thought you said we were friends?" Ichigo pleaded to the fast-approaching Luffy. Who, in turn, tilted his head.

"-We are?" Luffy affirmed with a nod, but he was still coming closer, seemingly not alarmed at all by the massive sword pointed at him. When Ichido didn't immediately respond, Luffy realized he might need to explain himself a bit further, even if this was something totally obvious. "Friends spar, and we're friends, so it's okay?"

Rukia crossed her arms. "He said he wouldn't eat you, but he never said anything about not beating you up."

"That isn't helping me right now!" Ichigo said, taking a step back. A quick glance behind him revealed that he could run for miles without getting caught between a rock and a hard place. With the way things were looking… he had no choice but to fight. Or, from what he'd seen of Luffy so far, squirm pathetically.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Luffy said, and Ichigo could only barely catch his eyes becoming oddly serious before he disappeared in a cloud of uprooted dust.

"Fuck," Ichigo said beneath his breath. Not only had Luffy's smokescreen trick indeed just been a show of might, but that same technique was now being used against him. He couldn't see him. Luffy was just straight up gone. It might be an invisibility technique, but something told Ichigo it was more of the "too fast to see" kind.

From the way Rukia was glancing about, it was clear she couldn't see where he went either.

Kisuke, on the other hand, seemed perfectly content. Ichigo had only met this strange man a few hours earlier, but from what he had seen Kisuke was a very stressed man, shouting at him and Luffy for no reason. At least, so Ichigo thought. In reality, this was more alike him than he had been earlier.

"Boo!" and then, a fist collided with the back of his head, sending him flying with such a force that he didn't really think he'd ever stop.

But he did stop. His stop came in the form of yet another first, this one crashing into his left temple, effectively stopping him by crashing him down into the sandy ground with a loud crack. Was it just his twice-concussed head, or was he lying in a crater?

Ichigo groaned, only barely able to notice the white hand stretching down to him with all the black spots and white lights flickering through his eyes.

"Nice match!" Luffy said, heaving Ichigo out of the crater with ease.

A slow clapping emerged from beside them. Once Luffy got Ichigo on both legs, he turned to Kisuke, who was smiling oddly. "Very impressive! It seems I underestimated you previously, hollow!" Kisuke said, his sharp eyes analyzing every inch of Luffy's body, from the white complexion to the black eyes to the straw hat.

"I'm not a hollow! I mean, I am, since Strawberry said I was, but stop calling me hollow! My name is Luffy! The man who's going to-,"

"...Where's your Zanpakuto?" Kisuke asked, completely ignoring what Luffy said.

"Huh? My what?"

"...You ripped off your mask, right?" Kisuke asked rhetorically, folding his hands behind his back. Luffy nodded, frowning slightly. Tearing his mask off wasn't a bad thing, was it-? Nah, it felt right when he did it, and he hasn't regretted it all since. Now that he thought about it, before he ate that really big hollow and tore his mask off, didn't he have a tail?... Nope, must be his imagination. "Well, when you did that, did you happen to gain something else? Such as a sword?"

Luffy scratched his head. "Nope."

"Nothing at all-?"

"I think I lost my tail-? Oh, but I did get my treasure back! Does that count?" Luffy asked, taking his straw hat off his head to gaze at it longingly. He'd lost everything else, but he still had this. It brought a smile to his face. It even had those three stitched lines from when Buggy tore a hole in it…

Kisuke looked at the hat, and back to Luffy.

"...Your Zanpakuto is a hat. I have-, are you absolutely certain?" Kisuke asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Not just any hat! It's the hat I got from Shanks!"

"-Shanks who?"

"Shanks. He's one of the, uhh, four emperors of the sea? Or is it five now?... The papers said I was the fifth emperor but I'm not sure if that's really true…" Luffy mumbled. He didn't much read the papers, not that he could read anything more complex than Noland the Liar, but that's what Nami had told him the papers said. Hehe, just thinking about it made him blush.

Kisuke enforced eye-contact with the stunned silent Rukia. "...He's from a different world. Don't mind it."

"...Hollow, may I see that hat?" Kisuke asked Luffy, bringing him out of his nostalgic dreaming.

"Oh! Uh…" Luffy glanced between Kisuke and his beloved hat. He didn't much trust the hat-guy, and he didn't really want to hand his treasure to anyone. But… "-Do I have to?..." Luffy asked, giving Kisuke his most fawning eyes.

"Yes."

Grumbling, Luffy handed over the scruffy old thing. Kisuke turned it over in his hands, evaluating it with as much instinct as he could. It felt light in his hands, as a hat made of straw would, but it also felt like more than that. Like how a newborn feels much heavier than it really is. There was a pressure in it, years and years of age that surpassed that of its owner.

It had a spiritual strength.

Yes, that was what it was. A dull pressure kept inside of it. This was his Zanpakuto. And it made sense, too. He hadn't reached for a sword when he fought Ichigo. No, he'd just gone right into it, fists at the ready. Sure, he could just be a phenomenal fighter, experienced in several types of combat, but with how straight-forward he seemed, that was unlikely.

Then, how can he use this?

Kisuke knew it was a foolish question, dabbling with a force well beyond his own, but… He couldn't help himself. An Arrancar releasing his Zanpakuto, using Resurrección… It was a sight he had never seen before, and a sight he yearned to see. Deep down, for all his intelligence, the surest proof of his quick mind was his boundless curiosity.

But curiosity killed the cat.

He searched the hat with careful, well-contained fervour. Every second or so, he spared the hat's owner a glance, if only to ensure he wasn't going to be attacked out of the blue. Arrancars were cruel, emotionless creatures. They would happily stoop to deceit. The inside of the hat was uninteresting, and so was the top and sides. This truly was an old hat, what with the sloppily mended and re-mended holes and tears, but… it was clearly loved. And he respected that.

And then, he found something.

Along the red band, sewed to the inside, was a small, white paper square. "This is…"

The hat was yanked out of his hands at speeds so quick he couldn't even react, and he stood witness to the hollow boy evaluating the inside of the hat with as much interest as he had had. The hollow found the paper square within seconds, and just sort of… stared at it.

"A-, Ace…" at this mumble, Kisuke noted how both Ichigo and Rukia grew more alert than before, as if they had heard the name before.

"-I'm not sure what that hat means to you, or what that white paper is, but I must warn you. I do not know what will 'unsheath' your Zanpakuto, so I wouldn't recommend-" and that's all Kisuke could say before Luffy tore the square out of the hat, held it in front of his face, and exploded.

"Goddamnit-, not in here!" Kisuke said, but it was too late; Luffy was, in fact, doing it in here.

As far as Kisuke knew, which wasn't much, Arrancar could get really really big after a Resurrección, mostly since it gave them more of the power they had before they became Arrancar. So, since most hollows are decidedly monster-like, with the stronger ones easily being humongous enough to break the roof of this place, Kisuke really didn't want Luffy becoming godzilla in here for no reason but curiosity.

That is, until the dust and light and everything cleared up, revealing a decidedly humanoid form.

Well, somewhat humanoid. It was just as short as the hollow boy had been before, about 175 centimetres tall, but there was, well, more. Not only did he have four arms, as compared to his previous two, but also a tail. Which is… good, since he really didn't want to repair the ceiling.

"Whoa!" the hollow said, practically hopping out of the cloud of dust to reveal his new form. He was still as white as ever, but some of his limbs, namely his arms and tail, were on fire. Red fire. For some damn reason… Furthermore, he now had a red mark on his right cheek, resembling a very small skull-and-bones caricature.

Pirate.

Rukia had said something about that, hadn't she?


End file.
